Landtag Electoral Hesse 2018: The silent coalition

In Hesse is something for the Greens. Here they were involved for the first time in 1985 in a state government. The photo, on which Joschka Fischer is sworn in as Minister of the Environment in white Nike sport shoes, can be found in many textbooks. Today, the street warrior and critic of capitalism works for global companies and wears a signet ring, in contrast to the petty bourgeoisie with his sneakers relaxes.

While the Greens were moving away from the CDU's path of economic and foreign policy, green ideas of migration, education and social policy were in their turn . Thus, in 2014, Hesse was the first country in the region to receive a black-green government.

This Sunday, the Greens could again provoke a political earthquake: current polls indicate that they almost doubled the results of their 2013 elections (11%) and could end up in the Wiesbaden Landtag before the SPD. The high-altitude demoscopic flight is not explained by the current political impulses of the Greens in the country and the federation. Rather, one could talk about a hype.

Not a fight in the coalition

Who appealed to green voters in front of the Kleinmarkthalle in Frankfurt, learns "that they are doing their thing, but rather well," and especially again and again, that they "quietly govern". This statement by Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) and the Minister of the Green Economy, Tarek Al-Wazir, about the repeated silence by the regional and national media, is either caught off guard or simply true. Now, there are several reasons for calm: Because worked very carefully – or very little.

In fact, the coalition has barely discussed and moved a lot. The central project of the state government consisted of a significant increase in expenditures for schools and police. The noticeable effects for the safety or training of Hesse did not have that.

As the country ranks third in the school ranking, injuries have almost doubled over the last 20 years. In recent years, they have risen steadily to reach nearly 32,000. The number of offenses committed on public roads, roads or places has increased significantly: 4,400 acts were reported in 2017 – nine percent of more than the year before. It should also be noted that private security services in the cities of Hesse are used by events, shopping centers and universities.

The expansion of Frankfurt airport and a good financial deal for the 145,000 employees of the state were also a success. These can now travel all over the country at the expense of public buses and trains; Evenings and weekends, their families also benefit from the free ticket.

In agricultural policy, the success is mixed: while subsidies have increased the area devoted to organic farming by about a third, but overall, rural areas suffer a lot from the decline of farmers. Since the 1990s, the number of companies has been cut in half, to only 16,000.

The Hessian Farmers' Association (Association of Farmers of Hesse) mentions low milk prices as the main reasons, distortions of competition to the detriment of local farmers, due for example to high standards of animal welfare and to the administrative burden. Even small farmers must obey the innumerable rules and regulations of the four higher political levels – district, Wiesbaden, Berlin and Brussels – and document their work. In many small villages in Vogelsberg and Rhön, the last farmer has already given up, usually breaking with centuries-old family traditions.

In addition, rural jobs are disappearing in the retail trade as stores are gradually closing due to competition from major Internet stores and shopping malls along the city's exit routes. Similarly, the widespread publication of store opening hours and the expansion of Sunday work in Hesse have helped large retailers to oust small shops, independent bakers and butchers.

However, the fact that the number of unemployed is lower in rural Hesse than in urban centers is due to the willingness to accept long distances from work. Nevertheless, rural exodus is important because of the accelerated concentration of businesses in cities, especially in northern Hesse.

The high influx in the cities drives up rents. Priska Hinz, the main candidate of the Greens, wants to solve the problem by increasing the number of public housing and reducing the number of privatizations, as they have recently made known in the Nordend of Frankfurt, worried about excessive rents.

However, the evening discussion highlighted the helplessness of the minister responsible for housing construction: While most young women and older men from the Greens base were demanding from the minister that social housing corporations build only social housing, Hinz had to patiently explain his constraints. "It is essential that companies work in a profitable way and we also want a social mix in homes." Also, do not touch the green belt, and because of the noise, you could not build near the airport.

As there is not a single large area in Frankfurt for a new neighborhood, it is impossible for the Greens (or any other party) to get a noticeable reduction in their rent. The main reasons for the increase in rents – investors motivated by a low interest rate policy on the property market – and the high influx of Germany and abroad were not mentioned in the report. Coffee in Nordend.

The fact that the Greens are particularly in favor of the low interest rate of the European Central Bank and high levels of immigration does not seem to be subject to approval. In addition, the fact that the party has always pleaded for higher social spending and thus a high tax burden, which makes it more difficult to remove rents raised by normal employees, do not hurt. And this, even if their clientele lives mostly in the high-priced neighborhoods of overcrowded cities.

Government satisfaction is not only unusually high in polls among green voters, but in the country as a whole: But if Hesse appreciates its "silent" coalition, then why should the CDU Bouffiers fear when it comes to voting? election of about 38% of votes (2013 result) to plant about 26%? And why do the Greens increase to almost the same degree?

The most important federal political impulse of Black and Green Hesse was by far the clear commitment to the migration policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). While countries such as Bavaria or Saxony sometimes require stronger immigration control, black and green in Hesse are indicative of the course of open borders. In the Federal Council, even refused the desired black and red in the Bund clbadification of North African countries as a safe country of origin.

For a part of the conservative base of the CDU in Hesse, it is unlikely that the course on migration based on the bouffier has arrived. For the Greens, on the other hand, an old dream may have come true: no party is more clearly and firmly defending global freedom of movement and unlimited immigration.

It can also be the hot summer announcing climate change and contributing to the smooth running of the party. In addition, the Greens manage to present their policies to supporters and sympathizers as particularly sensitive and moral. With slogans such as "The motives of geiler reason" or "The good side of power needs you!" Make the Greens of Hesse less ridiculous, as would be the case with other parties.